SC reduces life sentence to 10 years imprisonment of man convicted for raping step-daughter, considering age and eight years of sentence undergone

Supreme Court: In a criminal special leave to appeal against the decision of Kerala High Court, upholding the conviction of the present appellant/ convict to life imprisonment for offence under Section 376 of the Penal Code, 1860 (‘IPC’) for raping his step daughter, the Division Bench of Sudhanshu Dhulia and Ahsanuddin Amanullah, JJ. upholding his conviction, reduced the life imprisonment to sentence of ten years and retained the fine amount as Rupees Two lakhs.

The convict was sentenced to life imprisonment with fine of Rupees Two lakhs in default to pay the fine to undergo rigorous imprisonment of two more years. The case of the prosecution against the appellant was that he used to insist his step daughter to accompany him to the nearby forest to collect fire woods where she was raped by him. The step daughter had stated that he had raped her on previous occasions as well, in the forest and also at their house.

The Court upon considering the facts and circumstances, refused to interfere with the well-considered finding of the Trial Court as well as the High Court on conviction. Regarding the question of sentence and quantum of fine, the Court noted the counsel’s submissions that the convict was already in his 40s and had already undergone more than eight years of the sentence and that his financial condition was such that he would never be able to pay the fine of Rupees Two lakh. Hence, the Court reduced the sentence to ten years and retained the fine amount as Rupees Two lakhs. The Court directed that the convict shall pay the said fine amount within a period of one year from the date of decision, and in case the said amount is not paid within the stipulated time, he shall undergo one year (instead of two years RI) of further sentence.

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